Top Mounted Ball Spotting Rack and Method of Racking Billiard Balls

ABSTRACT

An improved billiards ball spotting rack for the compact and precise formation of a plurality of billiard balls that operates by resting on top of and in contact with said billiard balls. The top mounted ball rack consists of a rigid frame and a series of aligning features that induce all of the balls into a tight position in contact with each adjacent ball. The design of the aligning features is such that a secondary compressing action required by ball spotting racks of prior art, commonly performed by pressing the balls with the fingers or thumbs or by the use of a moving mechanical device, is not necessary to achieve a compact and precise formation where every ball is in contact with every adjacent ball.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING Not Applicable BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In billiard and pocket billiard games, it is customary to begin eachgame or stage with a compact grouping of a plurality of balls, commonlyknown as a “rack,” in a formation on the playing surface of a table andplaced in such a manner that each ball is in contact with all of theballs adjacent to it. This contact is essential for an accurate,consistent and proper manner of play. Ball spotting racks of prior artoperate by means of a framework that loosely surrounds the balls andrequires the application of a secondary compressing action to move theballs, either by personal (human) touch (such as with U.S. Pat. No.228,879 6/1880 DeGeatano) or the use of a mechanical device (such aswith U.S. Pat. No. 8,911,299 12/2014 Day), into a tight and compactarrangement. Ball spotting racks of prior art then require removal ofthe rack without disturbing the balls commonly by sliding the rackslightly forward out of contact with the balls and then carefullylifting it up past the balls. It is in these secondary actions thaterrors in racking can occur resulting in a formation of balls that arenot all in contact with one another (commonly known as a “loose rack”).This invention improves the manner in which the billiard balls aregrouped together by eliminating the possibility of any ball not being incontact with all adjacent balls and eliminating the need for a secondarymovement of balls to form a compact grouping.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Various versions of the invention are described below. These versionsare examples only and are not intended to restrict the invention to theexact features and appearances of the versions depicted herein. Thedistinguishing characteristic of this invention from ball spotting racksof prior art, which loosely surround the balls and require the operatorto physically apply a compressing action to move the balls into acompact position, is that the invention is placed on top of and incontact with the billiard balls and by its design induces the balls intoprecise position in contact with one another without the need foradditional compressing actions required by ball spotting racks of priorart. Furthermore, particular versions of the invention may be used toassemble different formations with various numbers of balls with equalaccuracy and effect. Many billiards and pocket billiards games use fewerthan fifteen balls in alternate formations. While some ball spottingracks of prior art may still be used for some of these games, the lackof precision inherent in their operation is increased.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Legend:

10—Rigid Frame

11—Aligning Features

12—Shaped Edge of Aligning Feature

B—Billiard Ball

T—Table or Playing Surface

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a version of the invention capable ofarranging up to fifteen billiard balls in the common triangularconfiguration, up to nine balls in the common rhombus configuration, andup to seven balls in the common hexagonal configuration.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the version of the invention shown inFIG. 1 illustrating fifteen billiard balls present in the aligningfeatures.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the version of the invention shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an elevation view of the version of the invention shown inFIG. 2 illustrating how the invention is supported by the billiard ballsand does not contact the playing surface.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a version of the invention capable ofarranging up to nine balls in the common rhombus configuration, and upto seven balls in the common hexagonal configuration.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the version of the invention shown inFIG. 5 illustrating nine billiard balls present in the aligning features

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the version of the invention shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a version of the invention capable ofarranging up to nine balls in the common rhombus configuration, and upto seven balls in the common hexagonal configuration.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the version of the invention shown inFIG. 8 illustrating nine billiard balls present in the aligning features

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the version of the invention shown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the version of the invention shown inFIG. 1 illustrating an alternate formation and quantity of billiardballs.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a the version of the invention shown inFIG. 1 illustrating how the invention may be used as a ball traysuitable for transportation, storage or display of a plurality billiardballs.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention is more fully described below with reference to thedrawings that depict possible versions of the invention. These versionsare provided to illustrate the operation of the invention and are onlyexamples of how the invention may appear and are not limiting to thescope of the invention. There are many possible versions of theinvention, including alternate ball configurations and quantities, allof which fall within the scope of the present invention.

Where the operation of the invention is described, the steps indicatedare illustrative only and not restrictive. Where a sequence of steps isdescribed, alternate sequences are possible. Billiard balls are depictedin the drawings to illustrate how the invention operates and thebilliard balls are not part of the invention.

The terms “adjacent ball” and “immediately adjacent ball” are usedinterchangeably and refer to a plurality of balls that are directly nextto each other and physically capable of being in contact with each otherand do not refer to balls which may be in close proximity to each other,but are physically separated by one or more intervening balls.

A version of the invention (herein after referred to as the “top mountedball rack”) capable of arranging up to fifteen balls is shown in FIG. 1and is further illustrated with fifteen billiard balls in FIG. 2. Thetop mounted ball rack consists of a rigid frame 10 and a series ofaligning features 11. The aligning feature is shaped such that when itengages a ball, it induces the ball toward the center of the aligningfeature (herein after also referred to as “centering action”). In eachof the versions depicted herein, the aligning feature 11 is a circularhole or cutout through the rigid frame 10. Other aligning features arepossible, such as a semi-circular recess in the frame or any other shapethat induces the ball toward the center of the aligning feature such asan equilateral triangle or polygon. The edges 12 between the horizontalsurfaces of the frame 10 and the vertical sides of the aligning features11 are shaped to facilitate the centering action of the ball B to thealigning feature 11. The shape of the edges 12 may be of any form thatfacilitates the centering action of the ball within the aligning feature11. The aligning features are arranged such that the distance betweenthe exact center point of one aligning feature to all immediatelyadjacent aligning features is slightly less than the diameter of thebilliard balls. Because each ball is induced to the center of itsrespective aligning feature and the distance between adjacent aligningfeatures is slightly less than the ball diameters, the balls are forcedinto contact with each other. The top mounted ball rack rests on top ofand is supported entirely by the plurality of billiard balls and usesits weight in combination with the aligning features to induce the ballsinto contact with each other as illustrated in FIG. 2, FIG. 6, FIG. 9,and FIG. 11. The top mounted ball rack may be made of any sufficientlyrigid material or combination of materials including, but not limited tometal, wood, and plastic.

The best mode of arranging fifteen billiard balls into a triangularconfiguration commonly used to begin a billiards or pocket billiardsgame is carried out by loosely placing three balls on the playingsurface in a triangular pattern and placing the rigid frame on top ofthe balls such that the three center aligning features engage the balls.The remaining balls are subsequently slid under the sides of the topmounted ball rack causing the frame to temporarily rise slightly untilthe ball is induced toward the center of its respective aligningfeature. This action is repeated until all balls are in place asillustrated in FIG. 2 and the top mounted ball rack is completelysupported by the billiard balls as illustrated in FIG. 4. The topmounted ball rack is lifted vertically off of the billiard ballsresulting in a precisely compact grouping of balls in which every ballis in contact with each adjacent ball.

The best mode of arranging balls into alternate configurations such as arhombus shape of nine balls commonly used in pocket billiards, or ahexagonal shape of seven balls, is identical to that described above. Itis not necessary that each aligning feature of the top mounted ball rackcontain a respective ball in order to function properly, as illustratedin FIG. 11. This is especially useful in the pocket billiards gamecommonly known as “straight pool” when fourteen balls are repeatedlyracked in a fifteen ball triangular formation during the course of agame. Any number of balls, up to and including the number of aligningfeatures in the top mounted ball rack, will be in precise contact withany ball immediately adjacent to it. For instance, the top mounted ballrack depicted in FIG. 1 which is capable of arranging fifteen balls maybe used with equal precision for the nine ball rhombus configuration asillustrated in FIG. 11 and the top mounted ball racks depicted in FIG. 5and FIG. 8 may be used with equal precision for the seven ball hexagonalconfiguration.

1. A ball spotting rack for the compact and precise arrangement ofbilliard balls on a table comprising of a rigid frame containing aseries of precisely located aligning features.
 2. A ball spotting rackaccording to claim 1, wherein said aligning features are in any quantityfrom three to fifteen inclusive.
 3. A ball spotting rack according toclaim 1, wherein said aligning features consist of any shape thatinduces said billiard balls to align their geometric centers with thegeometric center points of the respective aligning feature (herein afterreferred to as “centering action”).
 4. A ball spotting rack according toclaim 2, wherein the edge between the horizontal surface of said rigidframe and the vertical surface of said aligning features is shaped inany manner which facilitates the centering action.
 5. A ball spottingrack according to claim 1, wherein the said aligning features arearranged and located in such a manner that the distance between thegeometric center points of said aligning features is sufficiently lessthan the diameter of the said billiard balls that said billiard ballsare induced into contact with one another.
 6. The ball spotting rackaccording to claim 1, which operates by resting on top of and in contactwith a plurality of billiard balls.
 7. The ball spotting rack accordingto claim 6, which induces said plurality of billiard balls into aprecise formation wherein each ball is in contact with each adjacentball without the need for a secondary compressing action.
 8. The ballspotting rack according to claim 6, that rests on top of and issupported entirely by a plurality of billiard balls and does not contactthe playing surface upon which the billiard balls are located.
 9. A ballspotting rack according to claim 6, which induces any plurality ofbilliard balls up to and including the number equal to the quantity ofaligning features in said rigid frame into any precise formation madepossible by the quantity and arrangement of said aligning features. 10.A ball spotting rack according to claim 1, which may also be used as aball tray for storage, transportation or display.